jalex on April 16th, 2009

Arriving back into Ireland at this time of year is exciting.  I love the fresh, moist air and lately just can’t get enough of being out in it. The humidity of northern Queensland can be hard to take when you’re not used to it. Yesterday I couldn’t resist the temptation to drop in to Inishconnell [...]

Continue reading about What Has Nature Done While I Was Away?

admin on January 31st, 2009

The second section of forest at Inishconnell was marked for its first thinning in a similar way as was the first section. But the second section was more typical and more straight forward. It is just a pure stand of sitka spruce. There were two lines of poplar in it, but no other broadleaves apart [...]

Continue reading about Thinning at Inishconnell – Second Section

admin on January 28th, 2009

  Timber stacked at roadside Peace and quiet has now returned to the forest at Inishconnell. All the big machines have left and the harvested timber has been collected and stacked at the roadside. Everything is still again. The thinning that was carried out over the last month was a first thinning. At twenty years [...]

Continue reading about Thinning at Inishconnell – First Section

admin on January 20th, 2009

The thinning at Innishconnell forest has now finished. Padraig O’Reilly, who drives the forwarder, did great work. Very little damage was done to the remaining trees, and the ground was well protected with brash before he drove the trailer out with its loads of heavy logs. Have a look at the following photos and you [...]

Continue reading about Thinning at Inishconnell

admin on January 14th, 2009

The harvesting operations at Inishconnell have now almost finished.  All the cutting is complete.  Wesley and his harvesting machine have moved off to a nearby Coillte forest to continue work there.  Below are some shots of the machine at work and what it has done: Look at the amount of logs coming out.  Wesley has [...]

Continue reading about Thinning at Inishconnell

admin on January 10th, 2009

             View from the harvesting machine as it enters the forest. Wesley guides the machine towards the first extraction line. See how small the trees look from up here. The thinning at Inisconnell is progressing and as the trees are felled, the light is flooding into the forest.  Wesley is an experienced machine driver and [...]

Continue reading about Forest at Inishconnell – First Thinning

admin on December 16th, 2008

Currently I am marking a small sitka spruce plantation near Cavan town for its first thinning.  It is not a line thinning, as most plantations get in a first thinning.  Instead I am selecting trees of good, straight form that are lightly branched and firmly rooted and then marking out the trees that are inhibiting [...]

Continue reading about Forest at Inishconnell – Introduction

jalex on January 6th, 2008

The thinning at Inisconnell is progressing and as the trees are felled, the light is flooding into the forest.  Wesley is an experienced machine driver and  he does little or no damage to the remaining trees.  This is so important as these trees will not only be used to bring in revenue for the forest [...]

Continue reading about First Thinning at Inishconnell Forest